23 October 2012 - Achilles and Aeneas

As in the Iliad, Book 20, when
at last Achilles sallies forth to fight
the Trojans, blind Homer has him pause
and shout a taunting speech at his opponent
Aeneas, who then, nothing daunted, stretches
the moment of suspense until it breaks,
holding forth like some Demosthenes
in an even longer speech where he accuses
Achilles of dallying around with words
when he should be thrusting hard-edged bronze:
even so
the election season carries on too long.